NXP Semiconductors is stepping up to improve traffic safety through high-end radar sensors for next-generation commercial vehicles.

NXP announced on the 8th that it has launched the latest product in its scalable S32R Radar processor family.

The high-performance S32R41 is custom-designed to meet the increasingly demanding processing requirements for supporting Level 2 (L2) and higher autonomous driving and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) solutions, and plays a key role in the production of high-resolution corner and forward long-range radars.

CubTEK, a specialist in total ADAS solutions, plans to utilize NXP's S32R41 processor and TEF82xx RFCMOS transceivers in a new high-end radar sensor system.

This technology is used in the sophisticated Blind Spot Information System (BSIS) of next-generation commercial vehicles to support drivers in enhancing the safety of vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists.

NXP’s scalable radar platform, consisting of a highly integrated processor and radar one-chip, provides a high level of architectural compatibility and software reuse, and CubTEK can leverage the benefits of existing 4D imaging radar operations based on NXP’s S32R45.

Automotive radar is the core of ADAS applications essential for enhancing traffic safety. It is rapidly establishing itself as a sensor technology.

One of the most demanding use cases requiring enhanced radar capabilities is BSIS. Commercial vehicles have wide blind spots on all sides, which can change dynamically when turning.

According to the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Administration (FMCSA), these blind spots can extend up to 6 meters in front and 9 meters behind, and along the sides, up to one lane width to the left and two lane widths to the right.

When large commercial vehicles, such as trucks, turn, collisions between pedestrians and cyclists generally result in serious consequences.

Previously, the safety of vulnerable road users was enhanced by increasing the number of side mirrors and equipping vehicles with side underrun prevention devices to improve the driver's visibility. Because these efforts have not been able to completely prevent turning accidents, most vehicles are equipped with BSIS, which provides blind spot detection (BSD), lane change alert (LCA), and turn assist (TA) functions.

The NXP S32R41 radar processor meets the requirements of advanced 77 GHz radar applications, including high-resolution long-range radar applications as well as advanced corner radar applications for passenger cars and commercial vehicles such as CubTEK's BSIS.

The architecture supports up to ASIL D of the ISO 26262 automotive functional safety level.

In addition, it creates an optimal processing chain together with the high-performance SPT (Signal Processing Toolbox) and Cadence BBE32 DSP radar processing accelerator, and implements a high-angle resolution radar system with high-performance processing capabilities equipped with dual MIPI CSI2 interfaces and 8MB of local SRAM.

The EdgeLock-compliant hardware security engine (HSE) provides over-the-air (OTA) updates and supports ISO 21434. Developers can easily build and optimize high-resolution 77GHz radar sensor applications using NXP's S32R41 processor and radar software development kit (RSDK).

“NXP’s S32R41 radar processor is the first device on the market to possess both the necessary processing power and connectivity, enabling it to fully meet the technical and commercial requirements for enhancing the safety of commercial vehicles,” said Dennis Tsai, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CubTEK. “CubTEK’s ECE R151 certified system solves tractor and container angle issues based on BSD, LCA, and TA functions. We are pleased to be able to use the S32R41 processor in the latest radar products through our collaboration with NXP,” he said.

Huanyu Gu, Director of ADAS Product Marketing at NXP, stated, “The NXP S32R41 processor was custom-built to provide outstanding performance with low power consumption to meet the requirements of next-generation advanced radar sensors. As a result, CubTEK developed a BSIS with an incredible 180-degree field of view and a detection range of over 110 meters. We are very pleased that the S32R41 processor can be widely applied beyond the passenger car sector.”

More information about NXP's high-performance S32R41 radar processor can be found at nxp.com/s32r41.